The Flash

by Richard Knaak

  It was not lost on him that Caitlin had begun reacting to even the slightest surge of the Weather Wizard’s power. As he scanned the latest readings, Cisco saw that Mardon had become so inherently bound to the storm—and the weather surrounding Central City in general—that his very life now affected her. Cisco marveled that the Weather Wizard could survive so much power not only coursing through him, but clearly building up. He should be burning up, Cisco thought. He should be a cinder…

  “Oh boy…”

  He hoped he was wrong. He prayed he was wrong.

  Cisco called up the readings concerning Mardon and studied them with a new, more critical eye.

  The Weather Wizard was burning up, and at a suddenly accelerating pace.

  But that wasn’t the half of it, Cisco knew now.

  He typed in a few thoughts to verify his worry. Sure enough, there would come a point, at least theoretically, when Mardon’s body would not be able to control all this fury. The Weather Wizard would be destroyed—but in perishing would also unleash all that wild, pent-up energy. That would turn Central City’s weather truly chaotic. Storms would rage on and on unchecked.

  Maybe even permanently.

  A crackling sound stirred him from his work. He glanced at the doorway.

  Frost covered the glass from floor to ceiling.

  “Worry about the city later,” Cisco berated himself. “You can’t do anything to help it if you end up a popsicle!”

  He returned to the update. With the data he had drawn from her, Cisco started cobbling together the update. It would not be a pretty piece of programming, but all he needed it to do for the moment was work.

  The room started to get cooler despite the hard work of the heater. Another look at the doorway revealed frost creeping over the floor, walls, and ceiling near it. Cisco estimated that at the rate it was spreading, he had at most five minutes left before it reached him.

  To his relief, two tests of the update ended positive. Cisco would have liked to have run a couple more tests, but had to hope for the best.

  “Time to warm things up.” Taking a deep breath, he hit the send button.

  Nothing happened.

  “Or not.” Cisco did yet another check, then hit the button again.

  This time, he just caught a glimpse of the update’s quickly aborted attempted to upload into the device. Frowning, Cisco checked the link to the device.

  As he feared, the problem was on the other end. The mechanism was not receiving the data properly. Cisco had to assume that the frost was affecting the device.

  He tried again. For a moment, it looked as if the update would take… but once again failure took over.

  “Oh, come on now…” Frustrated, Cisco tried to figure out what to do to overcome the problem. When he had created the device, he had designed it to be very durable. Somehow, he would get it working.

  More cracking alerted Cisco to the fact that despite the heat, the frost was rapidly approaching. Cisco swore, then quickly typed in another program. This one allowed him a better chance of operating the mechanism on Caitlin’s wrist from this remote location. If he could just activate a couple of emergency programs—

  The first went into action. Allowing himself a brief smile, Cisco watched as the device came fully online.

  He hit transmit. Again, the newly devised program uploaded.

  Setting his hand on the counter next to the computer, Cisco watched impatiently. “Hurry up, hurry up—”

  A tremendous chill stung his fingers. With a gasp, Cisco pulled his hand away.

  The frost instantly spread over the area where his hand had rested. Cisco shook his hand to bring back the circulation, then peered around and discovered that he was now cut off from the doorway.

  “This is not good…” He quickly returned as best he could to the computer. The update had just finished transferring. Cisco eyed the screen anxiously as the mechanism digested the new code.

  The moment that was done, Cisco hit restart. He then stood back and pointed his fist to his side and away from the frost.

  “Come on vibe powers, Daddy needs a doorway out of here.”

  Energy danced around his fist, tiny pale lightning that suddenly shot in the direction he pointed. The swirling energy balled together a couple of yards away from him, then began swelling.

  “Finally! That’s what I’m talking—oh, come on!”

  Just as with his attempt to read the toothbrush, his powers abruptly faltered. The breach starting to form collapsed in on itself, the swelling field of energy reducing to a tiny flicker before simply blinking out of existence.

  “Still batting zero, Zero,” Cisco muttered.

  A louder crackling made Cisco look down. All around him, the frost converged.

  Cisco tried to back away but his foot would not leave the floor. To his dismay, he saw that his shoe was also covered with frost.

  The computer chimed once. Cisco looked to the screen. A series of new readings crossed it.

  He grinned. At the same time, a hint of warmth returned to the room.

  Cisco tugged with his leg. His foot came loose when the frost faded away as if never having been there.

  The frost swiftly receded until the room was completely free. Cisco rushed to the doorway, then waited as the frost continued its retreat to the main lab.

  The moment it pulled back into there, Cisco slipped inside. There, he beheld Caitlin, Iris, and H.R. still frozen in position.

  No… Not exactly. Even from a distance, Cisco could see a hint of color in Caitlin’s cheeks. He quickly studied the other pair, noticing some color in their faces as well.

  “Man, that was close…”

  The color faded away again. Cisco felt a new chill in the air.

  He swallowed. “Aaaand getting closer yet…”

  * * *

  The Flash began spinning his arms. Faster and faster he spun them, slowing his descent and gaining maneuverability. Struggling to keep what breath he had managed to save, the speedster began pushing himself toward the surface.

  All but blind in the dark, he failed to see the heavy piece of asphalt that had just spilled into the gap. The piece collided hard with him, sending the Flash flailing. He nearly lost his air.

  Pushing past, Barry renewed his efforts. Despite his abilities, he still couldn’t say for certain where the surface was. Everything around him looked the same.

  The water above his head abruptly stirred. Thinking that perhaps the wind was the cause, the Flash moved in that direction. Stirred by his failing breath, he spun his arms as hard as he could—

  —and a moment later, burst to the surface.

  The storm continued unabated, but the Flash barely noticed. Fighting for air, he slowly pulled himself out of the gap, then lay in a heap by the side as he tried to recuperate.

  He pushed himself to his knees. From there, though, he could rise no farther.

  Thunder boomed around him. The storm drenched him to the bone, but all the Flash could do was kneel and try to swallow lungfuls of air. He tried his best to keep an eye out for his adversary, but fortunately—or not—the Weather Wizard made no sudden appearance.

  Grateful for that small favor but fearful for what it might mean for Joe, Barry pushed himself to his feet. In the distance, he saw the ruined farmhouse, a place where, if possible, the storm appeared even more violent.

  “Okay, Mardon…” the speedster muttered. “Let’s finally get this over with.”

  He raced toward the farmhouse.

  * * *

  Hail rocked what was left of the interior as Joe struggled—this time in vain, he quickly realized—to free himself. He knew that not just he but also the Weather Wizard were in dire danger. The latter was an odd revelation considering that even now Mardon worked to gather more power into himself.

  There’s got to be a limit to what he can take! The detective could see that the Weather Wizard was already suffering from severe strain, but trying to convince the rogue of the threat to h
imself was something Joe suspected was approaching impossible. Despite that, though, Joe persisted in trying. He had nothing else to do and there was always that slight chance that he would somehow get through to Mardon.

  A barrage of lightning bolts cut through Mardon’s silent casting. Hail showered the farmhouse, some of the pieces as large as softballs. Miniature tornadoes popped up in random locations, ripping up old bits of floor, dirt, and other refuse before abruptly fading away. The detective had finally concluded that these were not from some conscious effort by the Weather Wizard. Indeed, he scarcely even seemed to notice them.

  If he had appeared haggard when he had first kidnapped Joe, the Weather Wizard now literally looked like death warmed over. He constantly panted from effort. His skin had the appearance of someone who had baked too long in the sun, cracked and dry and flaking. Mardon teetered now and then, but despite Joe’s earlier hopes, never actually collapsed. Worst of all, as the detective watched, Mardon fell into more and more obsessive conversations with the figure he called his brother. Joe stared each time in disbelief and concern as the Weather Wizard filled both sides of the arguments, the rogue’s voice and facial characteristics shifting completely whenever “Clyde” spoke.

  “He’s right nearby,” Mardon declared as himself. “Right where I predicted he’d be.”

  “You’re going to let him die!” snarled “Clyde” as the Weather Wizard became the younger brother. “He might die!”

  “No, he’s only being softened up,” Mark Mardon returned. The rogue waved his left hand. “There. He’ll reach the surface easily, you see?”

  “Take him now then,”

  “Clyde” ordered. “He’s half-drowned, exhausted… He should be just ripe.”

  The Weather Wizard shook his head. “No. Almost, but not quite. I need more before we do that.”

  Joe still had no idea exactly what or who that figure was. He still leaned toward another metahuman masquerading as Clyde Mardon in order to manipulate the Weather Wizard, but as to what end, the detective couldn’t say. Whatever the goal was, it was a risky, long-term one, or so Joe thought.

  Meanwhile, of the Flash there was still no sign and that bothered Joe very much. It had seemed impossible at first that Barry could have such trouble finding the Weather Wizard even in the chaotic storm. However, more and more Joe became aware of just how thoroughly Mardon had considered his adversary’s abilities. Essentially locked up in solitary confinement while incarcerated in Iron Heights, Mark Mardon had clearly spent much time considering every wrong move he had made against the Flash during their previous encounter. Even in his growing madness, those calculations had remained with him.

  “Just a minute more,” the Weather Wizard murmured. “He’s coming. He just can’t reach us yet, not until I open the way. He—”

  With a horrific moan, Mardon abruptly folded over. The weather outside and in grew worse—much to Joe’s amazement, who thought it couldn’t get any wilder. Despite the Weather Wizard’s predicament, the Flash didn’t suddenly rush in and save the day as Joe would have expected.

  Part of the reason revealed itself a moment later as the stricken rogue, despite still being doubled over, suddenly said, “Pull yourself together! You want to fail me again? Do you?”

  “No… No,” the Weather Wizard painfully blurted out. “I won’t ever let… you down again, Clyde…”

  In a deathly calm tone, the other voice returned, “No… I don’t think you will, Mark. Now you take over again. I’ve kept running boy away from us, but now it’s your show again.”

  “My show…” With great effort, the Weather Wizard managed to straighten. His face returned to normal. “My show…”

  The air crackled around him. Much to Joe’s dismay, Mardon turned to face him.

  “Come here, detective.”

  A gust of wind picked Joe up and threw him toward the Weather Wizard. The law officer landed painfully at the felon’s feet.

  “Don’t try anything stupid and I just might not go after your daughter when this is done.”

  The comment immediately caused Joe to struggle. He tried to roll into his captor, but failed even to accomplish that much.

  Mardon laughed, first as himself, then as his brother.

  Joe glared at the Weather Wizard, then at the figure behind him. “Your brother likes to let you do the dirty work, Mardon,” he burst out, “and likes to stay far away from the danger. What’s he got to worry about, Mardon? He’s dead, isn’t he? Why’s he so far away?”

  From the shift in the Weather Wizard’s expression, it was very evident to the detective that he had hit a raw nerve.

  “I’ve got no reason to be afraid of you,” Mardon retorted in his Clyde voice. At the same time, the figure took a menacing stance.

  “Easy, Clyde,” the Weather Wizard added in his own voice. “All West here can do is bellow.”

  “Yeah?” “Clyde” interjected. “Let me just remind him of that, though.”

  The Weather Wizard abruptly kicked Joe hard in the ribs. Joe grunted in pain as the force rolled him over. He had no chance to see if Mardon’s mysterious companion had imitated the attack.

  “How’s that for staying back?” the Clyde voice mocked. “I think I’ll give you another so you don’t forget—”

  “Enough of that!” barked the Weather Wizard. “We may need him able to cry out for help, you know.”

  “Fat chance,” Joe managed. “Not going to help you—”

  He screamed as a very brief but also very painful shock from a tiny lightning bolt coursed through him.

  “Yes,” Mardon replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “You’ll cry out if and when we want. You’ll do it all and you’ll help us put the Flash where we need him when we need him.” The Weather Wizard gestured and another wind raised Joe several feet into the air. “You’ll do all this so that the Flash can help me bring my brother back.”

  His face contorted and the Clyde persona took over again. “And then we’ll kill you both.”

  17

  The Flash felt his strength starting to fail as he raced toward the storm-swept farmhouse; fail not in any normal sense but as it had been doing since the Weather Wizard’s manipulations had begun. Barry prayed that he would retain his abilities well enough to rescue Joe and put an end to Mardon’s insanity.

  “Cisco, do you copy?” Barry called.

  Static greeted his question. The Flash called Cisco’s name again, but was rewarded with the same lack of response. Barry could only assume that the storm and the struggle in the water hole had ruined their communications equipment again. The speedster would be on his own.

  He neared what remained of the front doorway—

  A series of lightning bolts struck in front of him, blocking the farmhouse. The Flash grunted in frustration as he veered off. His adversary had become very adept at timing his weather assaults. Mardon had obviously sensed the Flash earlier and had probably set not only the lightning in motion ahead of time, but very likely other attacks and traps Barry had not noticed. In that manner, the Weather Wizard could be assured that, at the very least, he would be able to keep the Flash off guard at the most crucial of times.

  As if to verify the speedster’s supposition, beyond the farmhouse he saw another set of bolts rain down on the landscape. Brow suddenly furrowing, the Flash stopped dead in his tracks, then backed up.

  More lightning hit just ahead of the path the Flash had been taking. Barry allowed himself a smile for having figured out the Weather Wizard’s strategy—

  He lost his footing as he stepped back without looking onto ground now covered in hundreds of pieces of hail. The Flash fought in vain to keep his balance and was forced to slow his speed dramatically. Barely had he done so than a new deluge of hail fell down over not just his location, but most of the vicinity too. Ever taking the Flash’s swiftness into account, the Weather Wizard battered the entire landscape with the deadly hail. Worse, the lightning assault more than doubled at the same time, creating
a nightmare scenario.

  Doesn’t matter how fast you can run if you have nowhere to run to, the Flash thought, not for the first time. Mardon knew him as few other opponents did and had just the right weapons at his command to make use of that knowledge.

  But the Flash had been giving some of the Weather Wizard’s potential threats much consideration in turn, especially the hail, which had literally tripped the speedster up more than once. Crouching, he gained back enough of his balance to proceed with his next step. Barry positioned himself and allowed momentum and the slipperiness of the hail to enable him to start spinning in a low circle.

  Shifting, Barry spun faster and faster. He extended one hand out, creating a wind effect. The speedster pushed himself, building up the speed of his circle and at the same time causing a wind of his own to pick up.

  The wind grew so powerful so quickly that it began to force the hailstorm back. Mounds of deflected hail, some pieces too big to even fit into his palm, began to gather a short distance around him. The general warmth of the region coupled with the heat generated by the Flash began to soften the hail as well.

  Continuing to spin, Barry began sending the hail far off in every direction, including some toward the farmhouse. He did his best to see that it didn’t travel fast enough to cause possible harm, only annoyance. The Flash couldn’t take the chance of injuring Joe in the process.

  But he was not done with the hail just yet. The moment a slight break came in the lightning barrages, the Flash stopped spinning and headed to the nearest hail mound. Scooping up an armful of the icy pellets, he pushed on into the ruined farmhouse.

  Utter emptiness overwhelmed him. The speedster nearly stopped as he found himself running in blinding whiteness. Barry quickly turned about and returned to the outside, only to find the emptiness spreading there as well.

  He now knew it for what it was, an incredibly dense fog. Barry could only shake his head at all the advance preparations the Weather Wizard had put in place for the speedster’s arrival. Barry had no doubt that, as with so much before, the fog was yet another scenario Mardon had worked out during his stint in Iron Heights.